Roster
| NAME | POSITION | AGE | LEAGUE | TEAM |
| Sidney Crosby (C) | C | 26 | NHL | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Chris Kunitz | LW | 34 | NHL | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Jonathan Toews (A) | C | 25 | NHL | Chicago Blackhawks |
| Patrick Sharp | RW | 32 | NHL | Chicago Blackhawks |
| Jeff Carter | C/RW | 29 | NHL | Los Angeles Kings |
| Patrick Marleau | C/LW | 34 | NHL | San Jose Sharks |
| Corey Perry | RW | 28 | NHL | Anaheim Ducks |
| Ryan Getzlaf | C | 28 | NHL | Anaheim Ducks |
| Patrice Bergeron | C | 28 | NHL | Boston Bruins |
| Rick Nash | LW | 29 | NHL | New York Rangers |
| Jamie Benn | LW | 24 | NHL | Dallas Stars |
| Matt Duchene | C | 23 | NHL | Colorado Avalanche |
| John Tavares | C | 23 | NHL | New York Islanders |
| Martin St. Louis | RW | 38 | NHL | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| P.K. Subban | D | 24 | NHL | Montreal Canadiens |
| Drew Doughty | D | 24 | NHL | Los Angeles Kings |
| Shea Weber (A) | D | 28 | NHL | Nashville Predators |
| Duncan Keith | D | 30 | NHL | Chicago Blackhawks |
| Alex Pietrangelo | D | 23 | NHL | St. Louis Blues |
| Jay Bouwmeester | D | 30 | NHL | St. Louis Blues |
| Dan Hamhuis | D | 31 | NHL | Vancouver Canucks |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | D | 26 | NHL | San Jose Sharks |
| Carey Price | G | 26 | NHL | Montreal Canadiens |
| Roberto Luongo | G | 34 | NHL | Vancouver Canucks |
| Mike Smith | G | 31 | NHL | Phoenix Coyotes |
Strengths
Uh… Everything?
Okay not really, but kind of. Canada boasts the deepest team at the upcoming Winter Olympics and it’s not even close. There are a few picks that raise eyebrows, but overall the Canadian team boasts a group of forwards that includes the best player in the world, who’s one of seven returning forwards from the gold medal winning team in Vancouver.
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Canada also boasts 5 Norris calibre defensemen in Subban, Keith, Doughty, Weber, and Pietrangelo, which is going to make scoring against them extremely difficult, and allow Canada to turn defense into offense extremely quickly. With the speed of guys like Crosby, Toews, Marleau, and Duchene, watch for Canada to be extraordinarily dangerous off the rush.
Weaknesses
If the Canadians have any weakness, it’s the left side of the defense corps. Duncan Keith is world class, and while Vlasic, Hamhuis, and Bouwmeester are excellent NHL defensemen, their quality as Olympic level athletes is in serious question. Most likely other teams know this, and you will see them attempt their break ins on the left side more often than not.
The strength of the defensemen on the right side is likely to compensate for this, but there has to be a weakness somewhere.
A secondary worry for Canada could be the strength of their depth forwards, with Kunitz and Nash likely not being able to keep pace with the other guys on the team, but that’s such a minor issue that it’s difficult to list it as a major weakness.
With that said, Canada was dealt a major blow on February 5th when Steven Stamkos was ruled out of the tournament with lingering issues from his broken leg causing doctors to advise him not to play for his long term health. Stamkos happens to be the best pure goalscorer in the world, so it’s a big blow for Canada, but replacing Stamkos with St. Louis is hardly a disaster.
X-Factor
The great trepidation for Canada always seems to be goaltending. In Vancouver, Martin Brodeur faltered badly, and although Roberto Luongo was there to pick up the slack, he was by no means a world beater, which has a lot of people nervous about Canada’s goaltending. Luongo’s struggles of late has started the hand wringing a little bit early.
Luckily for Canada, there’s Carey Price. Arguably the best goaltender in the NHL this year, Price has been consistently superb behind a defense that leaves him out to dry more often than not. Price is a goaltender who has the ability to step up in big games, and has done so for Canada in the past, winning a gold medal and tournament MVP as a 19 year old in the World Junior Hockey Championships in 2007.
